NEW YORK (AP) – A Manhattan eye doctor has filed a $30 million lawsuit alleging that James Bond actor Sean Connery is a bully as a neighbor and acts as though he has a license to terrorize his family out of its landmarked home.

“Notwithstanding the cinematic James Bond image of consummate finesse, the defendant Connery, in true Dr. Jekyll-Mr. Hyde fashion, acts the part in real life of a bully who ignores norms of neighborliness and decency,” Dr. Burton Sultan’s court papers say.

Sultan says he, his wife and their daughters live on East 71st Street in the lower four floors of a six-story Tudor town house, built in 1869, that they share with Connery and his wife, who live on the top two floors.

The Connerys’ floors, which they own as a condominium, were bought in January 1998 by their son, who moved to the suburbs in 2000 and let his parents move in.

The Connerys began renovations in September 2001 and were still at it last month, subjecting Sultan and his family to constant noise, foul fumes, water leaks and a rat infestation, court papers say.

The ophthalmologist’s papers say that the Connerys’ construction damaged the interior of the Sultan home and that repeated pleas to stop were ignored. The construction has ruined the Sultans’ collection of Victorian and early 20th-century wicker furniture, examples of which have been exhibited at the Smithsonian Institution, court papers say.

Connery also harassed the Sultans “by playing loud music at all hours and stomping about,” court papers say. On April 7, 2002, Dr. Marla Sultan, the Sultans’ daughter, knocked on Connery’s door and requested quiet.

“Connery’s appearance and behavior was that of a rude, foul-mouthed, fat old man,” court papers say. “Cursing and otherwise using indecent language Connery demeaned Marla’s father, refused to lower the noise and slammed the door in her face.”

Sultan’s court papers say the Connerys also owe $15,747 in maintenance and utility payments.

The Connerys are trying to force the Sultans from their home, which was designated a landmark by the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission on May 19, 1981, so they can buy it “at a bargain price,” Sultan’s papers say.

“The sole purpose of the Connerys’ refusal to pay their obligations was, and is, to harass the Sultans into leaving their home,” the papers say.

Exhibits appended to Sultan’s court papers, which were filed Friday, included a letter purportedly from the Connerys’ lawyer, Robert P. Lynn Jr. The letter says, “I think if we tie him up in several lawsuits, hopefully this will either permanently subdue him or drive him out of the building.”

Sultan’s papers say the Connerys have filed five “frivolous” lawsuits against him.

Lynn did not return telephone calls seeking comment.

The Sultans’ lawyer, Thomas E. Engel, said Tuesday he had no comment beyond what was in the court papers.

Late last year Connery, who gained fame as Agent 007 in the Bond films, placed 13th on a British magazine’s poll of the greatest living movie stars over the age of 50.

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